"Topmast" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... celebrated in Adelie Land with a small display. At 2.30 P.M. the Union Jack was hoisted to the topmast and three cheers were given for the King. The wind blew at fifty miles an hour with light drift, temperature -3 degrees F. Empire greetings were sent to the Colonial Secretary, London, and to Mr Fisher, Prime ...
— The Home of the Blizzard • Douglas Mawson
... the boat on which he found himself was the "Bertha Millner." She was a two-topmast, 28-ton keel schooner, 40 feet long, carrying a large spread of sail—mainsail, foresail, jib, flying-jib, two gaff-topsails, and a staysail. She was very dirty and smelt abominably of some kind of rancid oil. Her crew were Chinamen; there was no mate. But the cook—himself ...
— Moran of the Lady Letty • Frank Norris
... on the crest of a sea; she sank into the hollow behind, shipped a few dozen tons of water from the next comber, and then lay fairly steady, with her bow meeting the seas, and the huge steamer not a half-length away on the lee quarter. The fore-topmast-staysail was flattened, and Seldom closely scrutinized the drift and heave of ...
— "Where Angels Fear to Tread" and Other Stories of the Sea • Morgan Robertson
... pluckily attempted to carry on the fight. But the odds were hopeless. The officer whose painful duty it was to signal the surrender of the Detroit said of this British flagship: "The ship lying completely unmanageable, every brace cut away, the mizzen-topmast and gaff down, all the other masts badly wounded, not a stay left forward, hull shattered very much, a number of guns disabled, and the enemy's squadron raking both ships ahead and astern, none of our own in a position ...
— The Fight for a Free Sea: A Chronicle of the War of 1812 - The Chronicles of America Series, Volume 17 • Ralph D. Paine
... she gaed down, and farther down, Her love's ship for to see, And the topmast and the mainmast Shone ...
— Ballads of Romance and Chivalry - Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - First Series • Frank Sidgwick
... leewards of vs. These Portugals gaue vs the chase from nine of the clocke in the morning, till fiue at night, but did no good against vs. At last, we perceiuing the Admirall to be farre a sterne of his company, because his maine topmast was spent, determined to cast about againe with them, because we were sure to weather them, and the winde being as it was, it was our best course: but the Hart was so farre to the leeward, that we could not doe it, except we would lose her ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of - The English Nation, Vol. 11 • Richard Hakluyt
... recovered herself whilst settling down. She was greatly damaged, both in hull and rigging; the spar-deck and forecastle being swept away, and her main deck blown up in midships, very possibly through the explosion of her boilers. Her bowsprit and mizzen-mast were gone, as was also her fore topmast; and the mainmast, with topmast and all attached, was leaning aft, and so far over the side that the observers would not have been surprised to see it fall at any moment. Loose ropes were trailing in all directions; and the tattered remains of sails ...
— The Log of the Flying Fish - A Story of Aerial and Submarine Peril and Adventure • Harry Collingwood
... fallen spars, with her foremast the only stick left, and that—unsupported by backstays and the wind still pressing against the big sail—that was wabbling. Even as we looked it came down—lower and top parts—with a smash which snapped the topmast off and sent it twisting and gyrating to where, after a bound or two, it rolled down and pinned to the deck the two battling men in the stern. With it came a tangled mess of ...
— Sonnie-Boy's People • James B. Connolly
... cry of distress: an appalling sound; the wail of brave men. And they had borne it all so bravely, so cheerfully, till now. But now they knew something must go, or else the ship; the suspense was awful, but very short. Crack! crash! the fore and main topmast both gone short off by the caps; and the ship recovered ...
— Hard Cash • Charles Reade
... in vain to sit still and wish for what was not to be had; and this extremity roused my application. We had several spare yards, and two or three large spars of wood, and a spare topmast or two in the ship; I resolved to fall to work with these, and I flung as many of them overboard as I could manage for their weight, tying every one with a rope, that they might not drive away. When this was done I went down the ship's side, and pulling them to me, I tied four of ...
— Robinson Crusoe • Daniel Defoe
... leathering of the main pendants, runners in the wake of the boats when in tackles, the collar of the mainstay, the nip of the main-sheet block strops, leathering the bowsprint traveller, the spanshackle for the bowsprit, topmast iron, the four reef-earings three feet from the knot. All old copper, copper-sheathing, nails, lead, iron and other old materials which were of any value, were to be collected and allowed for by the tradesmen who perform the repairs. New sails were to be tried ...
— King's Cutters and Smugglers 1700-1855 • E. Keble Chatterton
... their hands into his and firing himself. In fact, toward the very last, he had about him a group of half a dozen marines who did nothing but load their firelocks and hand them to the commodore, who fired them from his own shoulder, standing on the quarter-deck rail by the main topmast backstay." ...
— Paul Jones • Hutchins Hapgood
... hours, and that we should be able to weigh with the coming down of the ebb. He asked Bramble whether he thought it would blow hard. Bramble could not say, but it would be better that the men should not turn in, as they might be wanted; and that if the fore-topmast staysail was hoisted, she would lie better at her anchor, and in case of parting, he would be able to manage her till sail was set. This advice was followed, and all the men sat up in the cabin drinking, ...
— Poor Jack • Frederick Marryat
... will I get a gude sailor To tak' my helm in hand, Till I get up to the tall topmast To see if ...
— Penelope's Progress - Being Such Extracts from the Commonplace Book of Penelope Hamilton As Relate to Her Experiences in Scotland • Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin
... indeed, to ground a man's plans on such dashed impudence! Hazard o' life! As if a man would turn from his course for them! Spiders o' hell! I'll strike my topmast to Death himself first—so the devil go with them! The blind gods may crush—they shall not conquer! They may kill—but I snap my fingers in their faces to the death! A pretty pickle, indeed! Batten down the hatches, Ramsay. Lend Jean a hand to get the guns under ...
— Heralds of Empire - Being the Story of One Ramsay Stanhope, Lieutenant to Pierre Radisson in the Northern Fur Trade • Agnes C. Laut
... sadly to the old days when she had a master. And the short bright summer passes. And again she sees the sun set from her decks. And now even her topmasts see it set. And now it does not rise to her deck. And the next day it does not rise to her topmast. Winter and night together! She has known them before! But now it is winter and night and loneliness all together. This horrid ice closes up round her again. And there is no one to bring her into harbor,—she is out in the open sound. If the ice drifts west, she must ...
— The Man Without a Country and Other Tales • Edward E. Hale
... answered the captain: "if you are on a ship, and you are looking even from the topmast of the vessel, the line of vision from the eye strikes the surface of the water at an angle. The result is that the surface of the water acts as a reflector, exactly the same as when the line of sight ...
— The Boy Volunteers with the Submarine Fleet • Kenneth Ward
... This morning, about 5 A.M., came in a ship from Marblehead bound to S'o Carolina. She had lost her main mast, mizzen mast, & fore topmast. In Latitude 35 she met with a hard gale of wind which caused the disaster, and obliged her to put in to New York to refit. About 11 o'clock the Humming Bird weighed anchor for Philadelphia to get hands. ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 8, No. 47, September, 1861 • Various
... mirror in the twilight a long line was visible, like a distressful note of exclamation or a pause in life. It was the topmast of the "St. Barbara." ...
— Timar's Two Worlds • Mr Jkai
... You just try her. Why, I've known 'em to keel over and rake bottom and bring up the weed on the topmast. I tell you now! there was one time we knowed she'd turned a somerset, pretty well. Why? Because, when it cleared and we come up, there was her two ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 9, No. 56, June, 1862 • Various
... over the central heavens. The calm was evidently not to be a calm long; and the minister issued orders that the gaff-topsail should be taken down, and the storm-jib bent; and that we should lower our topmast, and have all tight and ready for a smart gale ahead. At half past ten, however, the Betsey was still pitching to the swell, with not a breath of wind to act on the diminished canvas, and with the solitary circumstance in her favor, that the tide ran no longer against her, as ...
— The Cruise of the Betsey • Hugh Miller
... brak, and the topmast lap, It was sic a deadly storm: And the waves cam owre the broken ship Till ...
— Book of English Verse • Bulchevy
... began and continued with unceasing fire for three hours and forty minutes: by this time our ships were unmanageable. I made an effort to form the line, in order to renew the action, but found it impracticable; the Bienfaisant had lost her fore-topmast, and the Buffalo her fore-yard; the rest of the ships were not less shattered in their masts, rigging, and sails. The enemy appeared to be in as bad a condition; both squadrons lay a considerable time near each other, ...
— Memoirs and Correspondence of Admiral Lord de Saumarez. Vol II • Sir John Ross
... would do the same on the other side, as he was perfectly able to do. At the first volley from the artillery and arquebuses I swept the deck of the enemy, unrigged his main and mizzen masts, sent his yards and shrouds into the sea, burned his sails, and won and took into my power the flag at the topmast, the standard and flag at the stern, and the others which the ship bore. Then I sent on board of him a band of men with arms and a banner of infantry, who captured the poop and the cabin and took the shallop or long-boat which it had at the stern. All the enemy retired below the harpings and coverings ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume XI, 1599-1602 • Various
... practising. Once or twice I had climbed up the ratlines, and crawled through the lubber's hole to the maintop; and this I believed to be something of a feat, for I felt giddy enough while accomplishing it. I would have extended my enterprise by an attempt to ascend the topmast shrouds, but I was never allowed time, as the voice of either captain or mate would reach me from below, usually summoning me with an oath, and ordering me upon some other business, such as to mop out the cabin, swab the quarter-deck, black their boots, or perform some other menial ...
— Ran Away to Sea • Mayne Reid
... as soon as you are ready," replied I. "And aim at his spars. It is far more important to shoot away a topmast ...
— A Middy in Command - A Tale of the Slave Squadron • Harry Collingwood
... poultry—all of them intended for New Zealand, Otaheite, and the neighbouring islands, or other places where there might be a prospect of their proving useful. The course steered was about south-east. Before long a heavy squall carried away the Resolution's mizzen-topmast; and a mountainous sea made the ship roll so much that it was with difficulty the animals on board could be preserved. Owing to this, and to the cold, several goats ...
— Captain Cook - His Life, Voyages, and Discoveries • W.H.G. Kingston
... saved," answered the skipper, more than ever confused by the astonishing clearness and music of her voice and the fearless simplicity of her question. He scrambled to his feet, holding to the stump of the topmast with his right arm (for the spar whipped and sprang to the impact of every sea upon the hull), and looked at his men on the edge of the cliff. He saw that they were shouting to him, but the wind was in their teeth ...
— The Harbor Master • Theodore Goodridge Roberts
... shot. During their suspense a discharge is heard southward, and turning they behold COLLINGWOOD at the head of his column in the "Royal Sovereign," just engaging with the Spanish "Santa Ana." Meanwhile the "Victory's" mizzen-topmast, with spars and a quantity of rigging, is seen to have fallen, her wheel to be shot away, and her deck encumbered with ...
— The Dynasts - An Epic-Drama Of The War With Napoleon, In Three Parts, - Nineteen Acts, And One Hundred And Thirty Scenes • Thomas Hardy
... Dutch ships whatever. Father Ygnacio de Muxica of our Society, and a brother, were in the flagship, and a father of St. Francis in the other galleon. Both galleons suffered great troubles from whirlwinds, seas, and storms all the way to Macan. One day our flagship snapped the topmast of its mainmast and it fell down. Another day the mast sprang, and knocked the rudder out of place, and it had to be repaired. Another day they were all but wrecked on the reefs of La Plata. On another occasion they lost their rudder completely, and they had ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume XXII, 1625-29 • Various
... the Delaware we have chronicled, was in command of the "Raleigh," and gallantly gave battle to the frigate, which was in the lead. Between these two vessels the conflict raged with great fury for upwards of two hours, when the fore-topmast and mizzen top-gallant-mast of the American having been shot away Barry attempted to close the conflict by boarding. The enemy kept at a safe distance, however; and his consort soon coming up, the Americans determined to seek safety in flight. The enemy pursued, keeping up a rapid ...
— The Naval History of the United States - Volume 1 (of 2) • Willis J. Abbot
... the main topmast, carrying sails, rigging and even some of the crew into the water. In such a crippled condition escape was impossible, and the Essex was driven back again to shore, where she was brought to anchor within pistol ...
— Ten Boys from History • Kate Dickinson Sweetser
... speaking, a flash of lightning almost blinded them, and the little schooner received a shock which told of disaster. Next moment the roar of reverberating thunder drowned the crash of timber as the topmast went overboard, carrying the bowsprit and its gear along ...
— The Battery and the Boiler - Adventures in Laying of Submarine Electric Cables • R.M. Ballantyne
... chainshot, round and canister, swept the proud Don from stem to stern, while through the white cloud of smoke the musket-balls, and the still deadlier clothyard arrows, whistled and rushed upon their venomous errand. Down went the steersman, and every soul who manned the poop. Down went the mizzen topmast, in went the stern windows and quarter galleries; and as the smoke cleared away, the gorgeous painting of the Madre Dolorosa, with her heart full of seven swords, which, in a gilded frame, bedizened the Spanish stern, was shivered ...
— The Junior Classics • Various
... ship near the Asia was now seen to be on fire; the blaze flamed up as high as the topmast, and soon became one vast sheet of fire; in that state she continued for a short time. The crew could be easily discerned gliding about across the light; and, after a horrible suspense, she blew up, with ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 13, No. 356, Saturday, February 14, 1829 • Various
... tremendous. If the fleet was ready before the Turks came out, a slight excursion to Salonica might be attended with profit and advantage. I shall require a little time to repair damages. I have lost my larboard cat-head, my jib-boom, second topmast, main-gaff, bowsprit shot through, and the engine requires various repairs—the steam waste-pipe is completely gone, and I must get another made. I hope and trust your lordship has still the intention of forming a national fleet and a dockyard; ...
— The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald, Vol. II • Thomas Lord Cochrane
... their sailing, the wind became higher, and the swell from the south stronger than ever. They pitched about in the most dreadful manner, and during the night two sails were carried away, and the fore-topmast. They were now in peril; but they had the steam in reserve, and steered for their port. On the 9th of June they were in smooth water, running up between the coasts of Arabia and Africa. The weather now suddenly changed; the sun became intensely ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 57, No. 352, February 1845 • Various
... length of the pole cautiously. It was a high one, with a slim topmast spliced on with iron bands. He knew how to climb this like a sailor; careful to hold himself close in to the slender stick, and not throw his weight out, so as to put a strain on it that might cause it to snap and let him fall; careful not ...
— The Rival Campers Ashore - The Mystery of the Mill • Ruel Perley Smith
... for some seconds, as if it had not made up its mind what next to do. Presently back it came to the mast, and darted out to the lee yardarm. It had not yet finished its journey. Once more gliding back, it ascended the mast, when it made its way by the main-topmast stay, on to the foremast and there went gliding backwards and forwards ...
— The Three Admirals • W.H.G. Kingston
... mean time, Mulford had got the canvas spread. Forward, the Swash showed all the cloth of a full-rigged brig, even to royals and flying jib; while aft, her mast was the raking, tall, naked pole of an American schooner. There was a taunt topmast, too, to which a gaff-topsail was set, and the gear proved that she could also show, at need, a staysail in this part of her, if necessary. As the Gate was before them, however, the people had set none but the ...
— Jack Tier or The Florida Reef • James Fenimore Cooper
... flapping sail, By hanging from the topmast-head; I've served the vilest slaves in jail, And pick'd the dunghill's spoil for bread; I've made the badger's hole my bed: I've wander'd with a gipsy crew; I've dreaded all the guilty dread, And done what they ...
— Miscellaneous Poems • George Crabbe
... measure nowadays (but upon the old plan she would work out nearer a hundred and forty); and Phoby a St. Ives ketch, the Nonesuch, of about the same size. But which was the Black Joke and which the Nonesuch you never could be sure, for the lugger carried fids, topmast, crosstrees, and a spare suit of sails to turn her into a ketch at twenty minutes' notice; and likewise the ketch could ship topmast, shift her rigging, and hoist a spare suit of lug-sails in no longer time. The pair of them, too, had false quarter-pieces to ship and unship for disguise, ...
— Merry-Garden and Other Stories • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
... but not always, it was made of a single tree (pine or fir). If it was what was known as "a made mast," it was built up of two, or three, or four, different trees, judiciously sawn, well seasoned, and then hooped together. Masts were pole-masts until early in the reign of Elizabeth, when a fixed topmast was added. By Drake's time they had learned that a movable topmast was more useful, and less dangerous for ships sailing in these waters. The caps and tops were made of elm wood. The sails on the foremast were foresail and foretop-sail, the latter much ...
— On the Spanish Main - Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of Darien. • John Masefield
... intense the upland crofts, With momentary essence tinge thy wings; Or in the grassy lanes, one after one, 60 Lift light the nodding foxglove's purple bell. Thence, to the distant sea, and where the flag Hangs idly down, without a wavy curl, Thou hoverest o'er the topmast, or dost raise The full and flowing mainsail: Steadily, The helmsman cries, as now thy breath is heard Among the stirring cordage o'er his head; So, steadily, he cries, as right he steers, Speeds our proud ship along the world of waves. Sylph, may thy favouring ...
— The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. 1 • William Lisle Bowles
... quickness of thought. We had several spare yards, a spare topmast or two, and two or three large spars of wood. With these I fell to work, and flung as many of them overboard as I could manage, tying every one of them with a rope, that they might not drive away. ...
— The Life and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of - York, Mariner (1801) • Daniel Defoe
... seven guns, which was returned by both ships; and then they sped on their voyage of eight hundred miles to Manila. The captain gave out the course east by north half-north, and the French flag was hauled down from the topmast. The passengers of the Blanche had been sent on board of her, while those of the Guardian-Mother continued to promenade the deck. The commander noticed that some of them were gaping and yawning, and he remembered that they had had only three or ...
— Four Young Explorers - Sight-Seeing in the Tropics • Oliver Optic
... the water, and the topmast of a craft was discerned gliding along over the stunted tops of the timber growing on the projecting point of land which for the moment shut the hull from view. From the highest point fluttered the most beautiful flag ever bathed in the sunlight ...
— Up the Forked River - Or, Adventures in South America • Edward Sylvester Ellis
... seems quite right except the fore-topmast, which has snapped off, and is hanging in a tangle down ...
— Blue Jackets - The Log of the Teaser • George Manville Fenn
... the things clear of it. It was a very fierce storm; the sea broke strange and dangerous. We hauled off upon the laniard of the whip-staff, and helped the man at the helm. We would not get down our topmast, but let all stand, because she scudded before the sea very well, and we knew that the top-mast being aloft, the ship was the wholesomer, and made better way through the sea, seeing we had sea-room. When ...
— Gulliver's Travels - into several remote nations of the world • Jonathan Swift
... swim, At the coming of the flood. These boards I join together, To keep us safe from the weather That we may roam both hither and thither And safe be from this flood. Of this tree will I have the mast, Tied with gables that will last With a sail yard for each blast And each thing in its kind. With topmast high and bowsprit. With cords and ropes, I hold all fit To sail forth at the next weete[27] This ship is at an end. Wife in this castle we shall be kept: My children and thou ...
— Everyman and Other Old Religious Plays, with an Introduction • Anonymous
... a few large spars of wood, and a spare topmast or two, that were on the deck. These he pushed overboard, tying each with a rope to keep it from drifting away. Then he went over the side of the ship, and tied all the spars together so as to make a raft, and on top he put pieces of plank across. ...
— Young Folks Treasury, Volume 3 (of 12) - Classic Tales And Old-Fashioned Stories • Various
... puffed from the side of the rolling Palme. Volley after volley poured its lead and iron into the swaying rigging of the Dutchman, and, with a great roaring, ripping, and smashing, the mizzen topmast came toppling ...
— Famous Privateersmen and Adventurers of the Sea • Charles H. L. Johnston
... topmast with his hand, The foremast with his knee; And he brake that gallant ship in twain, And sank her in ...
— The Children's Garland from the Best Poets • Various
... fabulous but unknown weight makes her very stable, while she carries an immense spread of canvas. From the deck to the truck of the maintopmast is something over a hundred feet, while the foremast with its topmast is eight or ten feet shorter. I am giving these details so that the size of this little floating world which holds twenty-two men may be appreciated. It is a very little world, a mote, a speck, and I ...
— The Sea-Wolf • Jack London
... not yet out of sight when a topmast on the Rosan broke off short in a sudden squall. Bijonah Tanner immediately laid her to and set all hands to work stepping his spare spar, as he would not think of returning to a shipyard. Nat Burns, when he noticed the accident, laid to in turn and announced ...
— The Harbor of Doubt • Frank Williams
... plump through main and foresails, leaving round holes to mark the score. Another fairly struck the main topmast, and some splinters came rattling down, while the remnants of the top-sail flapped amid writhing ends of halyard ...
— A Man to His Mate • J. Allan Dunn
... The topmast studding-sail flapped and fluttered, the foresail shivered, and the jib filled as the frigate rounded to, narrowly missing the wreck, which was now under the bows, rocking so violently in the white foam ...
— The Pirate and The Three Cutters • Frederick Marryat
... had his whale dead about one mile to windward, so I came to wind on the port tack, but it took us some time to get up to the mate, as we could not carry any foretopsail or flying jibs as the topmast had given out. ...
— Bark Kathleen Sunk By A Whale • Thomas H. Jenkins
... mountain home, With dog and gun 'mid the woods to roam; And city life hath a thousand joys, That quiver amid its ceaseless noise; Yet nothing on land can give to me Such joy as that of the pathless sea. When morning comes, and the sun's first rays All around our gallant topmast plays, My heart bounds forth with rapturous glee, O, then, 't is then that I love the sea! Talk as you will of the land and shore; Give me the sea, and I ask ...
— Town and Country, or, Life at Home and Abroad • John S. Adams
... next morning it being calm with a great swell, we saw from the masthead, but could not bring them down no lower than halfway to topmast shrouds, four sail bearing South-South-East, distance 7 leagues. We lost sight about seven, though very clear, and sometime after a small breeze springing up from the South-West quarter, I stood towards Torbay in order to cover the shallops that ...
— The Life of Captain James Cook • Arthur Kitson
... first broke and we parted company?" was the reply. "The Revenge lost her fore-topmast ere the swine could find ...
— Blackbeard: Buccaneer • Ralph D. Paine
... reloading of the Fury commenced with recruited strength and spirits, such articles being in the first place selected for putting on board as were essentially requisite for her re-equipment; for it was my full determination, could we succeed in completing this, not to wait even for rigging a topmast, or getting a lower yard up, in the event of the ice coming in, but to tow her out among the ice, and there put everything sufficiently to rights for carrying her to some place of security. At the same time, the end of the sea-cable was taken on board the Fury, by way of offering some resistance ...
— Journal of the Third Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage • William Edward Parry
... breath of vesper song, Not to these patient friends, this kindly throng, Not to this hallowed morning, though it be Our summer Christmas, Freedom's jubilee, When every summit, topmast, steeple, tower, That owns her empire spreads her starry flower, Its blood-streaked leaves in heaven's benignant dew Washed clean from every crimson stain they knew,— No, not to these the passing thrills belong That steal my breath to hush themselves with song. These moments all ...
— The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Complete • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
... shook his head. "No snarl about it, Cap'n Sears," he declared. "Come straight this did, straight as a spare topmast. Joe Macomber told me so himself. Proud of it, too, Joe was; all kind of swelled up with it, ...
— Fair Harbor • Joseph Crosby Lincoln
... days; the fourth after our departure a most dreadful storm arose, which in a few hours destroyed all our sails, splintered our bowsprit, and brought down our topmast; it fell directly upon the box that enclosed our compass, which, with the compass, was broken to pieces. Every one who has been at sea knows the consequences of such a misfortune: we now were at a loss where to steer. At length the storm abated, which was followed by a steady, brisk ...
— The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen • Rudolph Erich Raspe
... canister, swept the proud Don from stem to stern, while through the white cloud of smoke the musket-balls, and the still deadlier clothyard arrows, whistled and rushed upon their venomous errand. Down went the steersman, and every soul who manned the poop. Down went the mizzen topmast, in went the stern-windows and quarter-galleries; and as the smoke cleared away, the golden flag of Spain, which the last moment flaunted above their heads, hung trailing in the water. The ship, her tiller shot away, and her helmsman killed, staggered helplessly ...
— Great Sea Stories • Various
... alternatives in moments of great peril; so, now, knocking away the under fastenings of the boat by main force, the crew managed at last to get it free. Then, improvising rollers out of pieces of the broken topmast, they contrived by pulling and hauling and shoving, all working with a will together, to launch it over the side through ...
— Teddy - The Story of a Little Pickle • J. C. Hutcheson
... the evening, we saw several men of war birds; and at midnight, heard many birds about the ship. At five o'clock in the morning of the 23d, we saw the Island of Ascension; and at eight, discovered a ship to the eastward, who brought-to, and hoisted a jack at her main-topmast-head, upon which we shewed our colours, and she then stood in for the land again. We ran down close along the north-east side of the island, and looked into the bay, but seeing no ship there, and it blowing a stiff gale, I made ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 12 • Robert Kerr
... soon ready with the harpoon, and took his station on the bowsprit, within six feet of the water. The line, one end of which was fastened to the harpoon, was rove through a block attached to the main-topmast stay; and the cook, one of the sailors, and myself firmly grasped the rope, and stood ready, whenever the word might be given, to bowse the unsuspecting and deluded victim out of his native element and introduce him to ...
— Jack in the Forecastle • John Sherburne Sleeper
... "Humph! Topmast heavier than the hull," replied Grandpa, accepting with gratitude, in this extremity, the sympathy ...
— Cape Cod Folks • Sarah P. McLean Greene
... English ship yawed and let fly at us with her fore-chase and mingled with their roar was the sharp crack of parting timbers and down came our main-topmast. ...
— Martin Conisby's Vengeance • Jeffery Farnol
... what damage had been done by the shot; it was not very much: the fore topmast showed a white mark where a piece had been neatly gouged out of it, and a few ropes were severed, but nothing serious ...
— Across the Spanish Main - A Tale of the Sea in the Days of Queen Bess • Harry Collingwood
... it proved, this was only a stratagem of theirs, for this light was put out a second time at one of their barques' topmast head, and then she went to leeward, which deceived us. In the morning, therefore, contrary to our expectations, we found they had got the weather-gauge of us, and were coming upon us with full sail. So we ran for it, and after a running fight all ...
— The World's Greatest Books, Volume 19 - Travel and Adventure • Various
... all. Signals were made from ship to ship, fresh anchors were let down, and the topmast housed. By midnight it was blowing a tremendous gale, which continued for three days. Several of the transports dragged their anchors and were washed ashore, and messages arrived from different parts of the coast telling of the wreck of many ...
— Bonnie Prince Charlie - A Tale of Fontenoy and Culloden • G. A. Henty
... daily acquires new beauties, as the warm weather advances, and the trees assume their summer clothing. As I passed the Turkish fleet at sunset, the Mahmoudiel fired a gun; and, in an instant, every topmast was lowered, with as much precision and celerity as would have been displayed by an English fleet ...
— Journal of a Visit to Constantinople and Some of the Greek Islands in the Spring and Summer of 1833 • John Auldjo
... little more just then and did not try. Sam and Tom made him as comfortable as possible and found he had suffered only from the fall of the topmast and not the ...
— The Rover Boys in Southern Waters - or The Deserted Steam Yacht • Arthur M. Winfield
... six miles on her course, when from the topmast the captain announced that the galley had gained the port, now twelve miles distant. "There is a gun," he said, five minutes later. "They have taken the alarm now." He then descended to the deck, leaving a sailor in the tops. Two hours later the latter announced ...
— Friends, though divided - A Tale of the Civil War • G. A. Henty
... platforms called tops; and round the topmast-heads are skeleton platforms called crosstrees. These platforms are required not only to take the lower ends of the topmast and topgallant rigging, but also to enable the crew to strike and get up the masts and yards and work the sails. The crosstrees ...
— Golden Days for Boys and Girls, Vol. XIII, Nov. 28, 1891 • Various
... The men—with cutlasses buckled round their waists, and many with nothing but their trousers on—instinctively cheered. Blaze went our cannonades and long gun in succession, and down came the fore-topsail; the head of the topmast had been shot away. "That will do; now knock off, my boys, and let us run for it. Make ...
— The World's Greatest Books, Vol VII • Various
... he said, "as if there was something afire over there. Here, you Tom," to a lad belonging to the relief-watch, who had just come on deck, "slip up as far as the fore-topmast cross-trees, and see if you can see anything out of the common away there on the ...
— The Voyage of the Aurora • Harry Collingwood
... man stationed on the fore-topmast cross-trees of the Condor. Since sunrise he has been aloft—on the lookout for land. It is now near noon, and ...
— The Flag of Distress - A Story of the South Sea • Mayne Reid
... cower 'neath Stripes and Stars, Cloaking her shame under legal bars, Not too moral for traffic, but shirking wars, While the Southern cross, floating topmast high. Though torn, perchance, by a thousand scars, Shall light ...
— War Poetry of the South • Various
... doubts. With a rapidity that is not common in merchant ships, but which is usual enough in the packets, the lower studding-sails, and two topmast-studding-sails were prepared, and made ready for hoisting. As soon as the words "all ready" were uttered, the helm was put up, the sails were set, and the Montauk was running with a free wind towards the narrow passage between the Scilly ...
— Homeward Bound - or, The Chase • James Fenimore Cooper
... of the grayer waters. Mr. Raleigh had just come upon deck at dawn, where he found every one in unaccountable commotion. "Ship to leeward in distress," was all the answer his inquiries could obtain, while the man on the topmast was making his observations. Mr. Raleigh could see nothing, but every now and then the boom of a gun came faintly over the distance. The report having been made, it was judged expedient to lower a boat and render her such assistance as was possible. ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 6, No. 38, December, 1860 • Various
... native fires, near which great quantities of turtle bones, and some coconut shells were scattered about. It was remarkable that wherever boughs were cut, an axe or some other sharp instrument had been used. A topmast with the lower cap attached to it, was found on the South-East side of the island, which we afterwards discovered to be a portion of the brig William, wrecked on the outer barrier ...
— Discoveries in Australia, Volume 1. • J Lort Stokes
... close at hand, the outline of the pursuing sloop became dim. Robert was no longer able to trace the human figures on her deck, but the banner of law and right flying from her topmast yet showed in the dusk. Forgetful as before of his own danger, he began to have a fear that the pirate would escape. Under his breath he entreated the avenging sloop to come on, to sail faster and faster, he begged her gunners to aim aright despite the darkness, to rake the ...
— The Sun Of Quebec - A Story of a Great Crisis • Joseph A. Altsheler
... of vessels of every class, from the humble gondola to the bulky East Indianian and the first-rate ship of war, gaily bannered with the Orange colours and thronged from deck to topmast by enthusiastic multitudes, was waiting to receive their beloved stadholder. A deafening cannonade saluted him on his approach. The Prince was escorted to the Square or Dam, where on a high scaffolding ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley
... brought down the pirate's fore topsail-yard, which hung in the slings, and succeeding shots did much injury to her masts and rigging, and at length the main-topmast ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXIII No. 4 October 1848 • Various
... the topsail-yard and topmast, unbent the mainsail, main-topsail, and gaff—sent down the topmast and running-rigging on deck—cast loose the lanyards of the lower rigging, and quite dismantled the mainmast, so as to make it appear as if we were about to haul to the wharf and take it out. The ...
— The Privateer's-Man - One hundred Years Ago • Frederick Marryat
... struggle continued between Nelson and his courageous adversary; the flames were breaking out every moment upon the French vessel. "Hardy, this is too hot to last long," said Nelson to his flag- captain. Presently a ball from the topmast of the Redoutable struck the illustrious sailor in the loins. He fell, still supporting himself by one hand. "Hardy, they have done for me now," said he. "No! not yet," cried the captain, who sought to raise him up. "Yes," replied Nelson, "the spine is hit;" ...
— Worlds Best Histories - France Vol 7 • M. Guizot and Madame Guizot De Witt
... shall have a rough time of it, Watkins, but I want to get across. We don't often let ourselves be weather-bound, and I am not going to begin it to-day. We had better house the topmast at once, and get two reefs in the main-sail. We can get the other down when we get clear of the island. Get number three jib up, and the leg-of-mutton mizzen; put ...
— Tales of Daring and Danger • George Alfred Henty
... cheerly, my hearts! yare, yare! Take in the topsail. Tend to the master's whistle. . . . Down with the topmast! yare! lower, lower! Bring her to try wi' the main course. . . . Lay her a-hold, a-hold! Set her two courses. Off to sea again; ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain
... replied the men; then look out sharp for land. Soon after, the cabin boy hallooing out, land, land! the captain ran nimbly to see if it was so, saying, I am afraid we are embayed. No, replied the mate, I will be bound for it, it is Lundy-island. The captain ran up immediately to the main-topmast head, to look out for other lands to the right and left, and found it to be indeed Lundy-island; upon which several sailors ran up the rigging, and, among the rest, Mr. Carew creeps out with nothing but a blanket upon his shoulders, and makes an attempt to run up the rigging; which the captain seeing, ...
— The Surprising Adventures of Bampfylde Moore Carew • Unknown
... which Mr Scoones served out to them. Owen and his companions then set out, and were fortunate enough in finding several casks, cases, and bales of goods; and what was of still greater value, the main topmast, with its spars, rigging and canvas, although apparently in inextricable entanglement. They immediately set to work, however, and, by using their knives, succeeded in dragging up a topsail ...
— Owen Hartley; or, Ups and Downs - A Tale of Land and Sea • William H. G. Kingston
... appearance; heavy, dense clouds, in which streams of vivid forked lightning momentarily appeared, were rolling rapidly towards us, and made us fear a repetition of last night's storm; the stream-anchor, the only resource we had, was therefore dropped; and, with the topmast struck, we awaited the bursting of the storm with much anxiety, and just cause of alarm for the safety of the vessel: the clouds continued to roll towards us, but just as the storm was on the point of bursting, the clouds suddenly ...
— Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia - Performed between the years 1818 and 1822 • Phillip Parker King
... had taken her, as a child almost, for Paula's service, from a fishing village on the Yellow Sea where her widow-mother earned as much as four dollars in a prosperous year at making nets for the fishermen. Oh Dear's first service for Paula had been aboard the three-topmast schooner, All Away, at the same time that Oh Joy, cabin-boy, had begun to demonstrate the efficiency that enabled him, through the years, to rise to the majordomoship of ...
— The Little Lady of the Big House • Jack London
... topmast had been struck, and fifty men placed hors de combat. The English admiral had given orders to separate the Redoutable from the Bucentaure; but Captain Lucas, who commanded the former vessel, profited by a slight breath of wind, and his bowsprit touched ...
— Worlds Best Histories - France Vol 7 • M. Guizot and Madame Guizot De Witt
... I do next? The cricketing Englishmen, I knew, were going. Two or three days more would see their gallant ship steam out of the harbour. As I returned in my cab to the city, I could see the English colours fluttering from her topmast, and the flag of the English cricket-club waving from her stern. But I knew well that they had discussed the question of the Fixed Period among them, and that there was still time for them to go home and send back ...
— The Fixed Period • Anthony Trollope
... of a mast follow: the step, the head, the caps, crosstrees, truck, topmast, boom, and gaff. The part of the gaff that rests on the mast is called the throat; the end of the gaff is called the peak. The jib-boom is a term used only in connection with model yachts. In larger boats the jib-boom is an extension of the bowsprit. The small boom that projects over the ...
— Boys' Book of Model Boats • Raymond Francis Yates
... November, putting to sea, the Desire and Content beat to and fro to windward off the head land of California; and that very morning one of the men in the admiral, going aloft to the topmast, espied a ship bearing in from seaward for the cape. Putting every thing in readiness for action, Candish gave chase, and coming up with her in the afternoon, gave her a broadside and a volley of small arms. This ship was the Santa Anna of 700 tons burden, belonging ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume X • Robert Kerr
... still prison'd in the gloom Of this abhorr'd and musty room! Where heaven's dear light itself doth pass But dimly through the painted glass! Hemmed in by book-heaps, piled around, Worm-eaten, hid 'neath dust and mold, Which to the high vault's topmast bound, A smoke-stained paper doth enfold; With boxes round thee piled, and glass, And many a useless instrument, With old ancestral lumber blent— This is thy world! a world! alas! And dost thou ask why heaves thy heart, With tighten'd pressure in thy breast? Why the dull ache will not depart, ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, • Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke
... to windward there broke on the astonished and drowsy Spaniards a tempest of flame, a whirlwind of shot. Thrice the Superb poured her broadside into the huge and staggering bulk of her antagonist. With the second broadside the Spaniard's topmast came tumbling down; with the third, so close was the flame of the Superb's guns, the Spanish sails—dry as touch-wood with lying for so many months in the sunshine ...
— Deeds that Won the Empire - Historic Battle Scenes • W. H. Fitchett
... the crew was washed overboard and lost; the following day a man fell from the topmast, that no one might think salvation impossible. And as though the Southern Demon had only been awaiting this tribute, the gale from the west ceased, the bark no longer had the impassable barrier of a hostile sea before its prow, and was able to ...
— Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) - A Novel • Vicente Blasco Ibanez
... island. We had passed several brooks and frozen tarns, and at a point where we had to take to the beach on the shore of the sound we found some wreckage—an 18-ft. pine-spar (probably part of a ship's topmast), several pieces of timber, and a little model of a ship's hull, evidently a child's toy. We wondered what tragedy that pitiful little plaything indicated. We encountered also some gentoo penguins and a young ...
— South! • Sir Ernest Shackleton
... there was a vessel in among the weed. At that, as may be imagined, we were very greatly excited, and stood upon the thwarts that we might get better view of her. Thus I saw her a great way in from the edge of the weed, and I noted that her foremast was gone near to the deck, and she had no main topmast; though, strangely enough, her mizzen stood unharmed. And beyond this, I could make out but little, because of the distance; though the sun, which was upon our larboard side, gave me some sight of her hull, but not much, because of the weed in which she was deeply ...
— The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" • William Hope Hodgson
... of musketry, and passed on to the support of the Captain, at that time warmly engaged with a three-decker, carrying a flag. His interference here was opportune, as the continual and long fire of the Captain had almost expended the ammunition she had at hand, and the loss of her fore-topmast, and other injuries she had received in her rigging, had rendered her ...
— The Life of the Right Honourable Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson, Vol. I (of 2) • James Harrison
... angel pretty soon if he keeps on cruisin' with that old hooker as she is. 'Bijah Perry, he's mate and the only good seaman aboard, tells me that most of the riggin's rotten and the main topmast ain't sound, by a good deal. The old man's put off havin' her overhauled for two reasons, one that repairs cost money, and t'other that puttin' off is the main sheet of his gospel. When there's no rain the roof don't leak and long's it don't blow too ...
— Keziah Coffin • Joseph C. Lincoln
... were thus brought into the top, where they were made up. The fore-topmast and the lower studding sails were taken in by a similar routine, and the Young America then moved along less furiously through ...
— Outward Bound - Or, Young America Afloat • Oliver Optic
... it shall appear beneficial so to do. This ship and the Maria de Gloria are the only two in sight of the enemy, the Carolina having been obliged to return to the Moro, in consequence of having lost a topmast, and the Nitherohy not having joined. I hope in my next to be able to give you some account of the ulterior objects the enemy have in view, which, whatever they may be, ...
— Narrative of Services in the Liberation of Chili, Peru and Brazil, - from Spanish and Portuguese Domination, Volume 2 • Thomas Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald
... by. Thou art sailing fair at his stern if thy course was not changed to avoid me. His topmast ...
— The Pirate Woman • Aylward Edward Dingle
... hoisted even the topmast- and maintopmast-staysails, but these did not help much; and when Tommy and Monsieur appeared half an hour later they were in wretched humors at the way matters stood. The only slight hope we nursed had been one cry of "Sail-ho!" from the mate, but he could not tell what kind ...
— Wings of the Wind • Credo Harris
... had her rigging cut up and one of her masts damaged. Pedro Valdes's flagship, the "Rosario," was twice in collision with a consort, with disastrous results. Her bowsprit was carried away, and her foremast went over the side, the strain on the rigging bringing down the main topmast with it. When the English drew off just before sundown, Valdes was busy cutting away the wreckage. Medina-Sidonia shortened sail to enable the rearward ships to rejoin, and then held his course up Channel. Valdes sent a request to him that a ship should be detailed ...
— Famous Sea Fights - From Salamis to Tsu-Shima • John Richard Hale
... 'ere.—" "Left your dunnage behind?"—"Yes, dunnage and money," answered Donkin, raising his voice a little; "I got nothink. No clothes, no bed. A bandy-legged little Hirish chap 'ere 'as give me a blanket. Think I'll go an' sleep in the fore topmast staysail to-night." ...
— The Nigger Of The "Narcissus" - A Tale Of The Forecastle • Joseph Conrad
... boarded the king's ship; now on the beak, Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin, I flam'd amazement: Sometimes I'ld divide, And burn in many places; on the topmast, The yards, and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly, ...
— History of American Literature • Reuben Post Halleck
... knee—this, sir"—slapping of knee with horny hand of toil—"The ship's knees, miss," addressing Damaris, whose straight brows had almost met in puzzlement, "is a chock on the forepart of the lowermast on which the 'eel—heel, miss, of the topmast rests. Yuss, sir. Her knee may 'ave water in it; but no one couldn't say the same ...
— The Hawk of Egypt • Joan Conquest
... springing up from the south'ard;" and, pacing the deck to and fro, he would also turn his eyes to the topmast-head every time he reached the quarter-deck of the vessel, to mark if the night-flag moved. Standing, at ...
— A Yacht Voyage to Norway, Denmark, and Sweden - 2nd edition • W. A. Ross
... front gate-posts were composed of the two jaw-bones of an enormous whale; the fence was of a most fanciful Chinese pattern; and directly in front of the house was erected that never-failing ornament of a sailor's dwelling, a tall flag-staff, with cap, cross-trees, and topmast, complete; the last, always being kept "housed," except upon the 4th of July, 22d of February, &c. At the foot of the flag-staff, "hushed in grim repose," was an iron six-pounder, mounted upon a ship gun-carriage, ready for service, whenever any national holyday required its voice. The house ...
— An Old Sailor's Yarns • Nathaniel Ames
... were the skipper of 'The Aquidneck,' were you? Well, well! no wonder you're laid up with a chill. We nearly burst our blood-vessels, laughing over Miss Fred's account of you, rising up like a ghost out of the eel-grass, and the topmast of your boat sticking up out of the water ...
— Flint - His Faults, His Friendships and His Fortunes • Maud Wilder Goodwin
... behind him and a shadow from the doorway. He turned. A graceful stripling in turban and caftan of cloth of gold salaamed to him from the topmast step. And as he came upright and the light of the lanterns fell full upon his face the astonishingly white fairness of it was revealed—a woman's face it might have been, so softly rounded ...
— The Sea-Hawk • Raphael Sabatini
... the conclusion of the sentence to explain the commencement. The instance quoted from the Quarterly Review is so gross an abuse of language, that little apprehension need be entertained of its repetition. The passage stands like the topmast of a ship-wrecked vessel, to warn others of the shoal on which she was stranded. All the other instances used as illustrations in W. N.'s paper are examples of the evil attendant upon a departure from one principle, viz.: That a simile should never be explained. ...
— The Baptist Magazine, Vol. 27, January, 1835 • Various
... likely to be so with the wind rising out of the northeast; and ere long the Petrel's topmast was sent down, and a double reef put in her mainsail. Until midnight it blew hard with a fast rising sea, and a mist as thick as a hedge. After this, it was ugly weather all the way home, and as they passed ...
— A Daughter of Fife • Amelia Edith Barr
... such cases, that the waves ran as high as the masts; and such was their violence that a transport, dashing against the ship "Amazone," immediately went down, with all on board. The crew of the "Prince d'Orange," half blinded by wind and spray, saw the great ship "Caribou," without bowsprit or main-topmast, driving towards them before the gale, and held their breath in expectation of the shock as she swept close alongside and vanished in the storm. [Footnote: Journal historique du Voyage de la Flotte commandee par M. le Duc d'Enville. The ...
— A Half-Century of Conflict, Volume II • Francis Parkman |
